Margaret W. Rossiter didn’t just study history—she transformed it.
In 1993, she brought to light a long-overlooked truth: the Matilda Effect, which describes how women’s achievements in science have often been systematically erased. Rossiter named this phenomenon in honor of suffragist and abolitionist Matilda Joslyn Gage, who had warned about the marginalization of women over a century earlier.
For decades, Rossiter delved into archives, letters, and forgotten publications to uncover the stories of women who contributed to science without pay, recognition, or sometimes even the right to sign their own discoveries. Her three-volume series, Women Scientists in America, is more than a work of scholarship—it’s an act of restoration.
Every biography she uncovered was a quiet revolution, returning women to their rightful place at the heart of science. Rossiter demonstrated that their exclusion stemmed not from personal shortcomings, but from systemic obstacles deeply woven into the fabric of scientific institutions.
Her research sparked new programs and policies to ensure that today’s women in STEM receive credit, have their work published, and are remembered. Prestigious honors such as the Sarton Medal, a MacArthur Fellowship, and a Guggenheim recognized her pioneering scholarship, but perhaps the truest tribute is the Rossiter History of Women in Science Prize—awarded to those who carry on her mission.
Margaret Rossiter didn’t just restore names to history. She made certain the world could never again claim ignorance.